Dr Frances Klemperer has worked for almost 20 years as a consultant psychiatrist in the NHS. She first worked with the homeless mentally ill as a psychiatric trainee in the START team, a specialist community mental health team providing at that time assessment and follow-up for the homeless population of Lewisham, Lambeth and Southwark.

More recently she has taken on the role of consultant psychiatrist for the Joint Homelessness Team (JHT), a team funded jointly by the NHS and Westminster council, which provides this service for the homeless population of Westminster – the borough with the largest homeless population in the UK.

These two teams are the only multidisciplinary mental health teams in London dedicated to working with rough sleepers who suffer from severe and enduring mental illness. The teams work closely with a wide network of other statutory and governmental agencies and third sector workers, use specialist techniques to assess and engage this group of service users, and are developing specialist services such as pan-London working, step-down beds, dedicated supported hostels and assisted discharge.